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God

Good Time, I Hope

(x = space)

x

x

Good Time, I Hope

x

God

May I talk

With you

x

My health might be improving

Just a little

By just a little

And I thank you

In part because

I want to make a lot

Out of a little

x

I want to ask your pardon

For my sins

Though really

I want to assume

Upon a doctrine

Not to have to talk them out

Remember things

With you

x

Or again assume

You know them

Anyway

And will excuse me

On my asking

Even broadly

x

Clearly

By tone

I think I’m wrong in that

x

But for your pardon

Even with my fractured approach

I thank you

And I love you

Have I mentioned that

x

I feel confused

About what’s next

x

I mean

I know there’s heaven

Though I don’t know

Heaven

But honestly I mean now

The now that I know

As best I know

And what to do

I don’t mean tired questions

Lived for decades

Without answers

I could grasp

x

I mean today

And for a little direction

Into tomorrow

x

Could you help me out

If I’m feeling better

With a little better-ness

What shall I do

x

Keep healing

I suppose

Try to bear

And wear

Virtue a little closer

Then to

Try to be positive

And send positive

All the while

x

That is

Maybe for a change

Keep doing this

x

Now

It seems

I hope

I hope I found a little something

This time

That had been piecemeal

Over time

And now should be

Seamed together

For a broader cloth

You might accept

For a flag

Or coverlet

Or on the table

Where we gather

To remember

And negotiate

Earth

Or

Eternity

x

You’ve been listening

Over years

You have been listening

I’m thankful

x

Even in pain

Your presence

For my life

Since when there’s void

There is too much

To bear

x

Well

Thank you

Lord

I’ll keep working

As it is

And feeling

Of your presence

More than doctrine

In my life

x

C L Couch

x

x

This is personal

And cosmic

It’s for you

All verse is for you

Food

For ingesting

Water

For the thirst

You maybe did not know

You had to have

Me

Too

All to have

In being

x

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

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1

El Día

(x = space)

x

x

El Día

x

All Souls Day

El Día de los Muertos

Day of the Dead

And abuelo

Grandfather says:

x

Gracias

Thank you

Niños

(all are children)

For the picnic

With the treats of sugar

(we like sugar)

While the veil

Is at its filmiest

x

As it was last year

You won’t see me

Hear me

Soon

But I shall be there

In the moments that you need

The most

x

What can I do

But you should know

That you are

Not alone

No

Never

x

Except

Claro

Of course

When you want to be

Or should be

x

Adiós

Good-bye for now

Go with God

El Dios

Each

And all

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Zahra Amiri on Unsplash

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1

I Should Get God

(x = space)

x

x

I Should Get God

x

I should finish

For the day

Though I haven’t thought of God

Frankly

Enough

Even in everything

Thought

Reason

Let those serve

Better than roted doctrine

But through holy words

Inside

x

For there

(sometimes in the world)

God is there

I know

Existence not incumbent

On my knowing

x

It is a choice

Not to exist

But to believe

x

I talk throughout the day

To someone there

Who is not

(if I were crazed)

A Roosevelt

Or Fred Gwynne as an angel

x

Though I like Fred Gwynne

An angel

(you may look it up)

And so think of his portrayal

As an angel

Telling stories

In a deep voice

Given to

A sonorous performance

x

That’s my suburban way

Real angels are magnificent

And frightening

Reflecting awful

As in awe

In aspect

In deserved

(for being)

In response

To God

x

But we talk

Maybe-angel

And I

And I am nudged

Throughout the day

For choices

To consider

And which work out

(tend to)

If I listen

x

Presence

Like a present

(pun)

For grace is free

Salvation won already

A door that works

Like a door

Except

Without a door knob

x

We are inside

There is a knock

We know who it is

And only with a latch

Only on our side

And shall we open

And invite

The one we know

If only heard of

Now and then

x

And it is Jesus

Even as a stranger

Exudes the promise

Though we may leave outside

The person

And the invitation

We are allowed

x

Existence doesn’t change

So much

But our will

Is changeable

As it is viable

x

We truly make the difference

In this meeting

Thinking head

Incising heart

Maybe a hopeful spirit

With yes

Well

There is God

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Katia Rolon on Unsplash

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0

The Way to God

(x = space)

x

x

The Way to God

(or, Mystics Are Confounding)

x

God guide us

Does God guide us

Seems

We decide

To take the step

To the right

Or to the left

x

How much is up to us

Why

(and then)

Why

Just about everything

I think

We might want

To go on the path of God

To God

And there might be clues

Insight

Perhaps

Bristly sensation

‘Cause a treasure hunt

If run

And this would be

The richest one

To have

To hoard

Perhaps

(though hoarding really

is no fun)

Better to share

Especially as some of it

Is news

x

But

Come on

Too much is invisible

A code

Without an artifact

Some books that might be changing

And we argue all the time

x

So maybe we hope

For approval

On the way and afterward

Which isn’t gold

But is heaven

That in jazz of virtue

Sometimes perplexing

Ain’t all bad

x

Don’t mean a thing

If it ain’t got that

Je ne se pas

Karl someone said that

(with an “It” as in “It don’t”)

Paas (like eggs)

Haas

Or who is Schickele

A syllable

A couple of Es away

From an adverb

x

Well

Someone

Something

Help us

Please

Maybe a map

On the pages

Or inside a leaf

Inspired (for the books)

By the leaf

That falls

These days

From trees

And set some kind of standard

x

They

Often fall on paths

While one path of the paths

We seek

Who knows

Nature might show the way

Overall

x

Or at least in part

Or parts

Sigh

Where are the arrows

Where is the angel

Pointing

Not much for a duty

But then

One has been assigned

To raise a flaming sword

Outside of Eden

Since the

Lapsarian

Moment

x

So many mysteries

And what we want

Is God-directed

Without mystic

Understanding

(though Ms Underhill

teaches

we all might

have it to use)

x

Well

We find our way

We do our best

Maybe we rather

Act like blocks

Sculpted

Undivinely

Because we favor

Hammers

Of agendas

x

The rest of us

Then

Try

To find a way

To go a way

To find the treasure

Of the Lord

Which is the same

As one who’s somehow

With us

Now

x

C L Couch

x

x

Karl Haas composed and hosted a radio show about Classical music; he was famous for his deeply-intoned greeting, “Hello, everyone.”  Peter Schickele also hosted (hosts) a radio show wherein (for the closing) he told us to remember that, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that je ne se pas.”  (A comic re-rendering of the line (and title) “I don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” by Duke Ellington.)

Evelyn Underhill was a mystic and writer who composed Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People.

And may I annotate myself?

x

Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash

Ancient Stump

x

1

in a glorious church

(x = space)

x

x

in a glorious church

x

look at you

Jesus

on such an ornate cross

we don’t truck

with indignity

or even

execution

you’re still alive

up there

though as you die

you die for us

x

rude cross

more like it

wooden beams

thick branches

off the trees

of the Earth

we say the nails were iron

ongoing execution business

for a smith

with earthly metals

coal to burn

or pieces of wood

cut off

shaved off

something like the matter

of a cross

x

c l couch

x

x

Photo by Michael Newcomb on Unsplash

x

I don’t mean to be a spoilsport about faith and faith art; I do think spiritual simplicity might be important

x

Since we built the church, there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar; Francis Nurse made them, y’know, and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty weeks he preached nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows – it hurt my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.

John Proctor

The Crucible

Act 2

x

0

Dona Nobis Please

(x = space)

x

x

Dona Nobis Please

x

God

I wish I knew a round

And had a choir

Volunteered

x

A canon in the better sense

For meaning without questioning

The bias

x

I guess

What I really mean

Is to write the round

For exigence

A canon for the evening

Fluidly

To welcome stars

And thoughts of rest

And afterward

Retire

With notes to welcome dreams

x

Amen

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Adam Ulrich on Unsplash

x

0

Form

(x = space)

x

x

Form

x

God

I love you

Even though

I’m unsure of the terms

Or attitude

How to be both

Obeisant and

Democratic

x

See

You’re a monarch

Absolute ruler

Of the universe

(more than He-Man

or She-Ra)

While for now

To mortal lives

You’re also

Frankly

Invisible

x

I may say

You’re in the wind

Your fingerprints the bark

On trees

And all the patterns

Helix

Hexagons

The nautilus

In nature

x

We may say there’s evidence

I may say

And I believe

The wonder inside everything

Indicating

A wonder-maker

x

And there are words for you

As you speak

To Adam

Eve

And prophets

Though you tend so speak

Through agencies

Especially after Eden

Still

We say your words

Which is all right

For me

x

You are layered

Through the books

And we must read

And listen

Let it sink

Through layers

Into our own deep places

Reemerging

Into peace

And promise

x

We are surprised by joy

x

But who are you

And how are you

An image

In what ways

x

And how are you

Today

x

How is it to know you

And to live with you

Really

We wake to a clock

And then what

Should happen

x

There are domestic

Possibilities

When Jesus says

To wash and comb

x

When mourning

To offer in the temple

Our poorer

Open selves

Then give

What for each of us

Corresponds to the

Widow’s mite

x

We know you count the hair

Track the falling sparrow

Offer bread

When sinners offer stones

Plus you prodigally receive

Whenever we return

From profligacy

Spending our inheritance

The gifts you gave

And what we have

From the world

All gone

And only we are left

As shells

Needing frankly

Food and water

x

And then you give us

Feasts

While the righteous and the stern

Glower

While serving

x

There is that stream

Of course

We wander by

So I guess you somehow do that

And in some form

So we might walk

Together

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Luke Ellis-Craven on Unsplash

x

0

The Eighth Day

(x = space)

x

x

The Eighth Day

x

O God

I exhale your name

That has no name

Nothing catchy

For a slogan

Or a following

x

Plain

Supreme

(like pizza)

Simple without cunning

The closest thing to name

Because we need a name

Otherwise

There is no signifier

So that creation

Stands alone

As its own testimony

To our senses

Of the creator

Back of it

Before

Underneath

To carry through

The secrets of the universe

Navigating rings

Of everything that orbits

Or otherwise transports

x

God without a name

Who’d rather not have one

Though Moses

Insisted

For his

Sibling people

x

God without a name

Vacuum for power

The designer has designed

To share

First with the host

And then for

Nature

Than for the rest of us

Who also need a name

For show

Of praise

Rather than manifest

Through only

Breathing out and breathing in

A life

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by La Pájara Azul on Unsplash

x

1

The Lord Hears

(x = space)

x

x

The Lord Hears

x

The Lord hears

Our prayers

We don’t how they’re

Tallied or remembered

If there’s a meeting

On each day in heaven

When and where

Angels receive assignments

Even discuss

The timing

x

Each word is heard

There is no requirement

We may ask in faith

Or doubt

We might be easy in our words

Or difficult

Say something

It is heard

x

It might be yes or no

Though the Lord is more than

Binary

There must be many ways

To answer prayer

Materially

Abstractly

With small mechanical change

Or simply in an attitude

Encouraged to endure

x

Good is still pretty good

Without the bad

There is a learning value

We suppose

But ask for what is needed

And think about

Confession

And thanksgiving

x

Dear and

Amen

Is not

Are not

Required

Say either or both

For a beginning and an ending

Or you know

Don’t

Leave the prayer suspended

In the air

For someone else to catch

To carry with endearment

For another’s hearing

And response

x

There’s always something next

Pray badly

Stutter in your heart

Speak

Or simply think your prayer with God

Pray what Jesus taught

As a responsibility

An affirmation

x

But however

The words go

And whichever

We will be heard by truth

And responded to

With love’s

Practicality

And maybe by our reckoning

A miracle

x

Listened

And responded to

The transactional nature of the world

Confirms

It points the way

Creation’s creator

Reckoning perfectly

Providing something always

In return

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by whoislimos on Unsplash

x

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